Trump calls COVID-19 a 'very interesting thing' and says he's learned about it 'by really going to school'


Before President Trump walked out of Walter Reed on Sunday evening to drive around and wave at supporters, he tweeted a video saying he was going to "pay a little surprise to the great patriots out on the street," and thanked the "absolutely amazing" doctors and nurses at the hospital.
Trump stated that he is receiving "great reports" from his doctors, and the dozens of fans waiting for him outside showed "enthusiasm like probably nobody's ever had." The coronavirus pandemic has been raging in the United States since the beginning of the year, and Trump is now one of the more than 7.4 million Americans to be infected by the virus. Despite the high infection rate and death toll — 209,500, as of Sunday night — Trump said it wasn't until his hospitalization that he truly started to grasp COVID-19.
"It's been a very interesting journey," he said. "I learned a lot about COVID. I learned it by really going to school. This is the real school, this isn't the let's-read-a-book school. And I get it and I understand it and it's a very interesting thing and I'm gonna be letting you know about it. In the meantime, we love the USA and we love what's happening." Catherine Garcia
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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